Press Release
Published on March 13, 2018
Washington, D.C.—In response to today’s announcement that President Trump is nominating Gina Haspel to lead the CIA, Human Rights First’s Raha Wala issued the following statement:
“During Gina Haspel’s long tenure at the CIA, she oversaw torture at a CIA blacksite during one of the bleakest points in our nation’s history. No one who had a hand in torturing individuals deserves to ever hold public office again, let alone lead an agency. To allow someone who had a direct hand in this illegal, immoral, and counterproductive program is to willingly forget our nation’s dark history with torture.”
Haspel reportedly oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects at a CIA blacksite in Thailand, and participated in efforts to destroy video documentation of these harsh interrogations.
